There is a famous expression that admonishes: “While you live, tell the truth and shame the Devil.” Unfortunately, however, some who live by this admonition find themselves shamed, instead. Dr. Daniel Neides discovered this truth when he was fired from his position as Medical Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute – one of the largest and most respected hospitals in the country – for daring to write a blog post in which he questioned the use of formaldehyde in a “preservative-free” flu vaccine.

Like the vast majority of American healthcare professionals, Dr. Neides is neither anti-vaccine nor absolutely pro-vaccines. Nonetheless, he is committed enough to the welfare of his patients to ask the tough questions and speak the truth as he sees it. After all, that’s what someone in his position is hired to do.

Health Impact News reports that the Cleveland Clinic is world-renowned for its “out-of-the-box” thinking. The clinic’s website promises:

We are a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education.

Cleveland Clinic is one of the largest and most respected hospitals in the country. Our mission is to provide better care of the sick, investigation into their problems, and further education of those who serve. [Emphasis added]

Surely that is what Dr. Neides was trying to do – provide better care for the sick and investigate the possible root causes of some of their problems?

Apparently, that’s not how the clinic saw the matter. Instead of praising Dr. Neides for his boldness and willingness to speak out about his own bad experiences with the flu vaccine, the doctor was accused of spreading “harmful myths and untruths about vaccinations,” and fired from his respected, and no doubt hard-earned, position.

Health Impact News makes the important point that someone does not rise to the position Dr. Neides was entrusted with if they are an anti-science, anti-vaccine heretic. Instead, as the site reported:

Dr. Neides is a brilliant medical doctor who thinks “outside the box” looking for causes of disease and is not afraid to travel down the road truth leads him, no matter what the cost, and therefore upset the political system in place to protect the multi-billion dollar vaccine market.

And what were these terrible, heretical, anti-science things the doctor posted on his blog?

He simply noted that like many Americans he had followed the admonition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and dutifully gone for his flu shot. Wary of the thimerosal (mercury) in some vaccines, Dr. Neides made sure to choose the “preservative-free” vaccine. He was understandably horrified when he later discovered that though the vaccine did not contain thimerosal, it did contain formaldehyde. He was well within his rights to state:

So, what exactly is it that Dr. Neides did wrong? All he did was point out (correctly) that even so-called “preservative-free” vaccines contain dangerous ingredients, and that he had personally had a negative experience with the influenza vaccine.

Fortunately, brave people like Dr. Neides cannot be silenced. They speak the truth as they find it, and we should all be grateful for their bravery. (Related: Discover more truth at Vaccines.news.)